Simply put, your brain likes to eat. And it likes powerful fuel: quality fats, antioxidants, and small, steady amounts of the best carbs. The path to a bigger, better brain is loaded with Omega-3 fats, antioxidants, and fiber. Give your brain a kick start: eat the following foods on a daily or weekly basis for results you will notice.

1. AvocadoStart each day with a mix of high-quality protein and beneficial fats to build the foundation for an energized day. Avocado with scrambled eggs provides both, and the monounsaturated fat helps blood circulate better, which is essential for optimal brain function. Worst alternative: a trans-fat-filled, sugar-laden cream cheese Danish.

2. BlueberriesThese delicious berries are one of the best foods for you, period, but they’re very good for your brain as well. Since they’re high in fiber and low on the glycemic index, they are safe for diabetics and they do not spike blood sugar. Blueberries are possibly the best brain food on earth: they have been linked to reduced risk for Alzheimer’s, shown to improve learning ability and motor skills in rats, and they are one of the most powerful anti-stress foods you can eat. Avoid: dried, sweetened blueberries.

Green it: buy local and organic, and be mindful of seasonality. When blueberries are out of season, opt for cranberries, grapes, goji berries, blackberries or cherries to get your brain boost.

3. Wild SalmonOmega-3 fatty acids are essential for your brain. These beneficial fats are linked to improved cognition and alertness, reduced risk of degenerative mental disease (such as dementia), improved memory, improved mood, and reduced depression, anxiety and hyperactivity. Wild salmon is a premium source, but we’ll highlight a few other sources on this list for vegetarians and people who just don’t like salmon. Avoid farmed (read: sea lice infested) salmon.

Green it: the California salmon stock is threatened, so choose wild Alaskan salmon only, and eat small portions no more than twice a week.

4. NutsNuts contain protein, high amounts of fiber, and they are rich in beneficial fats. For getting an immediate energy boost that won’t turn into a spike later, you can’t do better than nuts. The complex carbs will perk you up while the fat and protein will sustain you. Nuts also contain plenty of vitamin E, which is essential to cognitive function. You don’t have to eat raw, plain, unsalted nuts, but do avoid the ones with a lot of sweetening or seasoning blends. Filberts, hazelnuts, cashews, and walnuts are great choices, with almonds being the king of nuts.

For those avoiding carbs, macadamia nuts are much higher in fat than most nuts. By the way, peanuts just aren’t ideal. Aside from the fact that many people are allergic, peanuts have less healthy fat than many other types of nuts…maybe that’s because peanuts are not actually a nut! They’re still much better than a candy bar, however.

Green it: try to choose organic, raw nuts, and if you can’t get those, at least avoid the tins of heavily-seasoned, preservative-laden nuts that may have taken many food miles to get to your mouth.

5. SeedsTry sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, flax seed, and tahini (a tangy, nutty sesame butter that tastes great in replacement of mayo and salad dressing). Seeds contain a lot of protein, beneficial fat, and vitamin E, as well as stress-fighting antioxidants and important brain-boosting minerals like magnesium.

Green it: Again, just look for organic and try to avoid the highly-seasoned, processed options. In general, things like fruits, vegetables, seeds and nuts are pretty low-impact, environmentally speaking, in comparison to meats and cheeses.

6. PomegranateOpt for the fruit over the juice so you get more fiber. Pomegranates contain blueberry-like levels of antioxidants, which are essential for a healthy brain. Your brain is the first organ to feel the effects of stress, so anything you can do to offset stress is a smart choice.

Green it: pomegranates are seasonal and not generally local for most of us, so enjoy sparingly and rely on other berries like acai, grapes and cherries when you can’t get this fruit.

7. GarlicGarlic – the fresher the better – is one of the most potent nutritional weapons in your arsenal. Eat it as much as your significant other can stand. Not only is it fabulous for reducing bad cholesterol and strengthening your cardiovascular system, it exerts a protective antioxidant effect on the brain.

It makes life easier, but don’t even think about buying the chopped or peeled garlic. Nutritional benefits = zero.

Green it: choose organic, and shop at your farmers’ market or order from a local CSA. Leave out the red meat a few days a week and rely on a big, well-seasoned green stir fry or salad.

9. Cacao nibsCacao nibs are among the top five most powerful brain foods, right next to wild salmon and blueberries.

Green it: as long as it’s fair trade and organic, it’s green.

10. Tomatoes
Go figure, but tomatoes don’t usually make the brain-boosting food lists. Tomatoes contain lycopene, an antioxidant that is particularly good for your brain – it even helps prevent dementia. You have to cook tomatoes to get the lycopene. But this does mean that ketchup is good for your brain. Although because of the sugar in it, you should look to other sources for most of your lycopene intake, such as fresh tomato sauce.

Green it: try to eat tomatoes that are local and get your lycopene in vitamin form when tomatoes aren’t in season. You’ll know when that is – the tomatoes will be pale, tasteless, and pithy.

11. Olive Oil
Though we know the brain does need a small, steady supply of glucose, don’t overlook fat. Studies have consistently shown that a low-fat diet is not the health boon we hoped it would be (remember the 90s low-fat craze?). In fact, avoiding fat can increase foggy thinking, mood swings, and insomnia. A diet rich in healthy fats is essential to clear thinking, good memory, and a balanced mood. Your brain is made of fat, after all.

One study of men found that those who relied on the processed vegetable fats found in salad dressings, snacks and prepared foods had 75% higher rates of mental degradation (dementia, memory loss) than men who ate healthy fats. Most processed foods and fast foods use corn oil, palm oil, soybean oil and other Omega-6 fats. You don’t want Omega 6 fats. Even saturated fat is safer than Omega 6’s.

Military jet pilots in the US are forbidden from flying their jets if they have consumed any garlic within 72 hours, even garlic on a pizza, as it slows their reaction time down so massively, as like onion, garlic acts as an intoxicant to the brain to some degree, making one feel a little dopey, also heavily messing up mental and physical coordination, so definitely no good for fighter pilots who require split-second timing.

Yogis avoid the ‘tamasic’ garlic for the same reason, as it would dull their intellects, so vital for discerning the best paths of consciousness, so they use asafoetida (hing) for flavour instead.

If you want to sharpen up your mental faculties, check out the very strongly impressive bacopa monnieri (brahmi in ayurvedic medicine), proven in tests on human subjects to lower time taken to solve problems by 40%, and to improve memory, intelligence and feeling of well-being. You can buy it very cheaply in powder form from Indian shops (though capsules from many companies online are hellishly expensive). A

Also, try phosphatidyl serine, as fluoride which is massively present in American foods stops the brain from making phosphatidyl serine to a great extent, and surprisingly (or not so surprisingly), that is the stuff that the brain uses to make new brain cells with. Even foods containing it are no where near enough to keep pace with the damage caused by fluoride, which kills brain cells (what a strange set of ‘coincidences’, see how your ‘government’, who are really just prison/death camp warders, looks after you), so you will feel a massive improvement in your consciousness if you try supplementation in addition to your normal food, and the changes in quality of consciousness produced by brahmi are also extremely impressive, as it offers a vast array of other mental benefits, very worthy of your time if you want to research it a little more.

JAMAAL

Good People are also superchargers for your brain. You can eat all of the healthy foods you like, but if the People around you are poisonous, then you will intake all of those bad chemicals and minerals that poisonous People produce.

Umbabog

Dr. Mary Newport has had success treating her husband, Steve, for Alzheimer’s with coconut oil. She even wrote a book on the subject. The main ingredient is lauric acid, which is also an important ingredient in mother’s milk. I am surprised coconut oil wasn’t included in the list above.

Larry Peterson

Well, your at odds with the Southern University Medical School, Dept. of Cardiology. Having undergone their testing for heart disease,they recommended only a hand-full of peanuts before I went to bed. I don’t like peanuts,so I did my routine for Cashews. “No! only peanuts have the right ingredients and the right amount of fat!” I was also required to consume Omega-3 in 1000mg. of Fish Oil(as long as it contained E.P.A. and D.H.A.)_ some sort of magic. I noted, however, that Great Britain had completed a study of 2,700 people, and found no difference in those taking Fish Oil and those who didn’t. Comfortable in taking antioxidants,I read my monthly bulletin from Mayo’s. It said to be careful with antioxidants as they found that certain “free radicals” were necessary to maintain the immune system. I am now comfortable with just drinking water,however, you can get a urogenic bladder with that. I live close to a field where I think I will just graze.